Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $102.06.

CL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $92.00 to $83.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Colgate-Palmolive from $111.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of CL opened at $93.25 on Friday. Colgate-Palmolive has a fifty-two week low of $85.32 and a fifty-two week high of $109.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.62 and a 200 day moving average of $93.80. The firm has a market cap of $75.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.40, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.01. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 477.77%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Colgate-Palmolive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Colgate-Palmolive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Colgate-Palmolive’s payout ratio is 59.09%.

Colgate-Palmolive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 20th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Colgate-Palmolive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,303,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,391,261,000 after acquiring an additional 588,230 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Colgate-Palmolive by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,436,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,028,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,411 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,518,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,868,723,000 after purchasing an additional 324,683 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Colgate-Palmolive during the fourth quarter valued at about $912,375,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,497,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,447,000 after buying an additional 993,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Company Profile

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items.